Americano Media, a conservative media network trying to become the Spanish-language Fox News, has been cozying up to the Republican Party, conducting a dozen interviews with Republican members of Congress, meeting with GOP leadership on Capitol Hill, and hosting events with former Republican members of Congress in key battleground states.
Americano Media, the Spanish-language Fox News, is cozying up to the Republican Party
Americano Media has aired a dozen interviews with Republican elected officials this year, and its executives have met with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill
Written by G. Capuano
Research contributions from Monica Rodriguez
Published
Over the last year, Americano Media has worked to position itself as a primary provider of Spanish-language right-wing talking points and propaganda, framing its cause as a fight against “free speech imbalance” in Spanish-language media in the United States. Last October, after airing an interview with former President Donald Trump, Americano Media more than doubled its Twitter audience, earning the outlet mentions from mainstream and conservative media outlets. Now, with radio programming across Florida and plans to expand further, streaming offerings, and a platform of about 120,000 followers across all online platforms, Americano Media is giving Republican politicians an outlet to target Latino communities with messaging meant to “cement and further” GOP gains with Hispanic voters.
After the November midterm elections, for example, Americano Media’s Dania Alexandrino interviewed Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) to speculate about “the red wave that never materialized,” claiming, “We also shouldn’t forget about the chaos in Maricopa County.” Then, on the night of President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address in February, Americano Media promoted its live stream of the event with a series of on-the-ground interviews by conservative journalist Lourdes Ubieta with several House Republicans. In the weeks that followed the State of the Union, Americano Media conducted a dozen interviews with Republican senators, current and former Republican members of Congress, and Latino Republican activists.
During one of the interviews, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) called the administration’s response to reports of Chinese surveillance balloons flying over the United States “an embarrassment,” adding, “it shows a serious lack of leadership within the administration.” In a different interview, Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) told Ubieta that Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas deserve “to be impeached.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also appeared with Ubieta to falsely claim Biden “allowed” China to gather “all intel it needed on our military bases, food factories, our cities.” Americano Media also aired Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s (R-AZ) Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, and later invited him to interview with the popular conservative radio host Nelson Rubio.
On February 10, two days after the president’s speech, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) went on Americano Media’s Hablando de Frente, and he also wrote a Spanish-language op-ed for Americano Media, claiming, “We will not be a democratic country much longer … if we allow Marxist protesters to be above the law.” A few weeks later, Sen. Scott (R-FL) returned to Hablando de Frente, where Dania Alexandrino prompted him to criticize Biden’s recent trip to Ukraine and dispute claims that Republicans want to cut social security.
Ubieta also interviewed Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Dias Jr., who claimed there is a “clear agenda from the left to infiltrate these books into our libraries,” referring to what he misleadingly called “books with pornographic content” banned in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ dystopian crusade against public education. Nelson Rubio and Gabby Perozo interviewed Florida’s Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez on Buenos Dias Americano, where she promoted DeSantis’ new book and a bill to revoke Disney’s self-governing status, which according to Rubio, is being “grossly lied about” in other Hispanic media outlets.
In addition to interviews with current Republican officials, Americano Media’s CEO Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo held a town hall with far-right former Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) in Henderson, Nevada, to promote the conservative network and claim Univision, Telemundo, and CNN en Español are “Marxist” institutions that “brainwash” their viewers “against traditional values.” Flores recently joined Americano Media as a senior political contributor.
Most recently, Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, penned a Spanish-language op-ed on Americano Media, claiming “Democrats failed,” and Americans “have no choice but to return control of the Senate to the Republican Party and kick Joe Biden out of the White House.”
Meanwhile, Americano Media executives Jorge Arrizurieta, Alfonso Aguilar, and Michael Caputo, a former Trump administration official who is now Americano Media’s Chief Communications Officer, have been on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican leaders like Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).